Emily vs. the City: A desire to improve my driving skills landed me at skid school

Emily vs. the City

Emily Mathieu has spent the last decade taking advantage of the comforts and conveniences of life in the city. Now she’s worried that if all the luxuries of urban life were taken away she wouldn’t be able to look after herself. So to become more self- reliant she is spending the next year learning to do something new and useful every two weeks.

I’m driving along an ice-covered stretch of road and feel like I’m in complete control. The speedometer of my red four-door Ford Fusion reads 40 kilimetres per hour just like Skid Control School instructor Doug Annett has directed, my eyes are fixed on a distant point on the horizon.

That is until Annett tells me to take my foot off the gas and make a lane change.

I gently turned the wheel. It takes less than two seconds before the tires lose their grip and I lose control.

I try rapidly turning the wheel, but the car turns sideways and spins counter clockwise several times before it finally stops in the opposite direction.

Upgrading my driving skills is a perfect undertaking for my year-long quest to become more self-reliant. I don’t own a car, but I drive for work and have spent a few white-knuckled hours on winter roads.

Skid Control School trains about 2,500 drivers year-round. Icy roads aren’t the only danger for drivers. Roads slick with water, spilled chemicals and even gravel can break a tire’s grip with the road surface. In the winter, driver’s learn to correct spinning out on ice. In the summer, the school soaks the track with water.

The car I’m driving has worn down tires and a braking system designed to make it feel as though the car is travelling faster than it actually is once it starts to spin.

This “allow us to exaggerate what is going on with the grip of the road,” says Annett of the training technique.

So I was going 40 km/h but the car was spinning out as if I was going at least twice as fast.

Trying to recover a 1,500 kg skidding car has everything to do with focus. You have to know where you are supposed to be heading, says Annett.

Drivers have to anticipate what is coming at them. When you’re behind the wheel, you should be looking 15 to 30 seconds up the road and adjust your speed according to what is up ahead – slowing traffic, flooded road way, debris, a moose, says Annett.

“If you are in fog and can’t see where you are going to be in 15 seconds, you are going too fast,” he says. Generally drivers, look about four to eight seconds ahead, but that is not enough time to react to most situations, Annett adds.

Drivers have to know where they should be heading when the car starts to spinout.

If they do, they can turn the steering wheel and line it back up with that point. Overshooting and heading too far the other way is a danger, but a good driver can steer to recover, Annett says.

It sounds simple, but aiming for a fixed point far in the distance while driving take practice.

We took about eight runs at it and by the end I felt I at least understood what I should do if my car starts to skid. By the end of our runs I was able to keep my eye on the road and steer the weaving car straight.

The most important tip I learned? When you hit a patch of ice or are spinning out, don’t hit the brakes! This interferes with your ability to steer and correct the direction the car is headed.

“You are asking the tire to do two things at once,” says Annett. “Once it is straight you can decide what you want to do.”

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.